Pucovski repays Paine's faith with promising debut knock

Australian cricket fans had to wait until the morning of the third Vodafone Test match to find out if Victorian young gun Will Pucovski was making his Test debut, but the batter in question had already been sworn to secrecy earlier in the week.

A 'couple' of days out from the match, Pucovski had been passing the time in Tim Paine's room and decided if see if the Australian captain would give him any indication.  

The 22-year-old approached the private conversation with the skipper the same way he approached his maiden Test innings, with swagger and a good bit of positivity.

He asked Paine if he was making his Test debut in Sydney.

"I might have a little bit of a confession to make actually," Paine told cricket.com.au after play on day one.

"Because he was in my room a couple of days ago and he sort of asked (if he would be making his debut). I couldn't lie to him. I said, 'You are playing, but don't tell anyone'.

"So I let it slip, but I was just excited for a mate."

He may have got the answer he was after, but the assurance from Paine didn't help with the pre-game nerves.

"It wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had," Pucovski said following his debut Test innings.

"In my head I think I’d built up I was going to be ridiculously nervous, and it wasn’t that bad in the end.

"I was pretty much just excited that the opportunity had finally got there and I was there on the ground receiving my Baggy Green."

Pucovski kept his word and an hour before play he was presented with his Australian cap by assistant coach, Andrew McDonald.

McDonald coached Pucovski at Victoria between 2016 and 2019 and coincidently, also made his Test debut in Sydney, 12 years ago against South Africa. 

"He's (McDonald) gone through a lot with him, through his development, through his Shield debut but also a lot of tough times for Will," Paine said of their bond.

"I know they've got a great relationship and it was a really special moment for both of them."

Thankfully for Pucovski, there was little time to agonise over his first innings after Paine won the toss and Australia were batting. 

David Warner, the 84-Test veteran and Pucovski's newest opening partner, offered the first-gamer the decision on whether to take the first ball or not.

"It was pretty cool going out to bat and Davey gave me the choice of facing first or not," Pucovski said.

"I mulled over it and changed my mind about 200 times but eventually decided I'd just take it and get the first one out of the way."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Thangarasu Natarajan

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT